Although I always knew James Caan looked a little different from Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, I never realized just how much the movie did to facilitate this. Every movie in The Godfather trilogy has no shortage of memorable characters, but it is still striking to see just how much of an impression James Caan’s Sonny Corleone makes with such limited screen time. Playing the H๏τ-headed Corleone brother, Caan brings the bravado and quick temper viewers expect in mafia movies, but is frequently sH๏τ down by his sensible brother Michael, his father’s consigliere Tom Hagen, and the godfather himself.
Of course, Caan’s character is memorably sH๏τ down in a more literal sense when his sister’s abusive husband, Carlo, organizes his ᴀssᴀssination. After Sonny beats Carlo senseless for abusing his sister, he is sH๏τ to ribbons at a toll booth by Carlo’s hired goons. This results in the scene that proves The Godfather’s Michael was even scarier than Vito, as the young new godfather placidly accepts that he can’t get revenge for Sonny’s killing, only to have Carlo gunned down anyway afterward.
James Caan Wears A Dental Implant In The Godfather To Make Sonny Look More Aggressive
Caan’s Face Didn’t Quite Fit Sonny’s Character Without Some Prosthetic Help
Sonny is a pivotal part of The Godfather’s story, as his H๏τ temper is contrasted with his calculating brother’s status as a cold-blooded killer. However, although Caan embodies Sonny’s swaggering machismo perfectly, the actor needed a little extra help to nail the character’s appearance. As surprising as it might sound, James Caan wore dental implants to play Sonny in The Godfather as this gave the character a more animalistic appearance. Caan’s earlier film roles had seen him star as more sedate characters like John Updike’s famous antihero Rabbit Angstrom in 1970’s Rabbit, Run.
Surprisingly enough, Caan wasn’t the only actor who wore a dental prosthetic to get into character in the adaptation of Mario Puzo’s classic mob epic.
Ironically, Caan followed The Godfather with a string of roles wherein he played similarly tough bruisers, such as 1973’s Slither, 1974’s Freebie and the Bean, and 1976’s The Killer Elite. Although gangsters, cops, and general tough guys were commonplace throughout the rest of the actor’s screen career, few of the late star’s subsequent roles were as brooding and intense as his part in The Godfather. While all The Godfather‘s villains are memorable, Carlo having Sonny killed stands out as one of the original movie’s bleakest moments.
Caan Is One Of 4 Actors Wearing Dental Pieces In The Godfather
The Godfather’s Cast Required A Surprising Amount Of Prosthetic Makeup
Surprisingly enough, Caan wasn’t the only actor who wore a dental prosthetic to get into character in the adaptation of Mario Puzo’s classic mob epic. Famously, Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone wore a substantial dental implant that rendered the surprisingly young actor almost unrecognizable as the dying mob boss. However, both Michael and Sollozzo’s actors also wore them for various purposes. Michael and Sollozzo’s implants are subtler, but they still affect the way actors speak and impact their appearances.
In contrast, Brando’s larger implant is immediately noticeable to a canny viewer. Since Brando was young when he sH๏τ The Godfather, playing an aging grandfather at only 47, he needed a lot of help to make his appearance more believable. This was where the movie’s use of dental prosthetics paid off handsomely, helping to shape the iconic appearance of Vito Corleone. However, Caan’s character from The Godfather relied on the same trick to make Sonny so memorably intimidating.
